Toby Köberle
April 2012
When water shortages occur, citizens are often requested to not wash cars, water lawns and to use low-flow shower heads. However, cutting back on meat consumption would save much more water given that the water required to produce just ten pounds of steak equals the water consumption of the average household for a year.
The informal term “factory farming” refers to any intensive commercial
form of agriculture that employs extreme growing techniques (usually with
heavy use of agrichemicals and veterinary drugs) to produce the greatest
output in the least space, and at the lowest unit cost. Although the term
occasionally refers also to intensive crop monocultures, for the purpose of
this article it will refer exclusively to meat and dairy enterprises which
meet the above criteria.
Many people today are aware that “factory” farmed meat and dairy are not
good for their health due to the vast quantities of antibiotics and other
drugs used. That, along with the over-crowded and inhumane conditions in
which the animals are kept, appals those who are concerned for the
well-being of animals – and how can we not be when we learn, for example,
that “309-330 cows per hour come by on the "disassembly" line, and there are
many who are still fully conscious with eyes wide open when skinned and cut
apart. They die literally piece by piece”.[i]
“The process of rearing farm animals in the US has changed dramatically from
the family farms of yesteryear. This reality, coupled with the exemption of
farm animals from laws that forbid cruelty to animals, has produced a
heartbreaking situation. More animals are subjected to more tortuous
conditions in the US today than has ever occurred anywhere in world history.
Never before have the choices of each individual been so important.” John
Robbins, The Food Revolution (2001)
The deplorable, overcrowded conditions at a chicken farm.
These things alone should be enough to draw the scorn of any sensible
person. But there is more. Not many people know of the severe environmental
damage caused by factory farms. These operations are actually among the most
toxic and polluting enterprises in existence. Concentrated animal waste from
factory farms pollute the water and soil, cause dust and odour problems for people
living in their vicinities, and are responsible for unacceptably high
water usage. This article will examine these issues.
Air Pollution
The manure mist that permeates the homes and skin of thousands of people who
live near factory farms commonly contains dangerous levels of such noxious
gases as hydrogen sulphide, ammonia and methane.[ii]
A citizen's test in Renville County, Minnesota found that one-quarter of 32
tests taken near manure lagoons exceeded Minnesota air quality standards for
hydrogen sulphide. This poisonous gas, usually associated with a "rotten
egg" smell, causes symptoms such as nausea, headaches, blackout periods and
vomiting. Although clouds of manure mist come and go with the wind, the
odour itself sinks into human tissue, clothing and furnishings and is
released slowly over time.[iii]
Concentrations of gases inside confinement buildings endanger workers and
animals and corrode equipment. The American Lung Association, in conjunction
with the University of Iowa, has found that nearly 70 percent of swine
confinement workers experience one or more symptoms of respiratory illness
or irritation and that 58 percent suffer chronic bronchitis. Unlike other
industry, however, factory farms are not subject to OSHA regulations.[iv]
Soil Pollution
Statistics - Excrement[v]:
Production of excrement by total US human population: 12,000 pounds/second
Production of excrement by US livestock: 250,000 pounds/second (including 25
pounds of manure per cow per day)
Sewage systems in US cities: Common
Sewage systems in US feedlots: None
Amount of waste produced annually by US livestock in confinement operations
which is not recycled: 1 billion tons
Where feedlot waste often ends up: In our water
Factory farm waste-water output.
Factory farms routinely dump waste manure on the soil and with vast
quantities of manure to dispose of, over-application of animal waste is
routine. There are several problems associated with this.
Firstly, the manure slurry of factory farms is full of heavy metals because
the animals do not digest all that is in their feed as growth supplements.
Heavy metals like cadmium, arsenic, copper and zinc are put into animal feed
to help make animals grow faster. Animal waste is never treated to remove
heavy metals. Once in the environment, heavy metals are almost impossible to
get rid of because they do not decompose, and "Once there's a toxicity, you
can't remove it," says soil scientist Fred Cox of North Carolina State
University. "Plants won't grow there. The soil damage is permanent." [vi]
And that is not all. Runoff from the fields also flushes the metals, along
with excessive nitrogen and phosphorus from the manure, into waterways and
public drinking supply watersheds. Studies confirm that elevated levels of
the heavy metals interfere with fish and wildlife reproduction. Excessive
nitrogen and phosphorus also trigger overproduction of algae blooms, which
can choke aquatic life, contaminate drinking water and, in some cases,
release algal toxins that can cause gastroenteritis.[vii]
Additionally, hog wastes contain parasites, bacteria and viruses, including
salmonella, campylobacter, e. coli, cryptosporidium, giardia, cholera,
streptococcus and chlamydia.[viii] Concentrations
of hog manure in leaky lagoons increases the probability of drinking water
contamination. Cryptosporidium and giardia, for example, resist conventional
chlorination. These travelling pathogens come not only from leaky waste
lagoons but also from on-site burial of thousands of dead pigs, according to
the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service.[ix]
Manure run-off with the accompanying soil degradation.
These spills, more or less severe, happen several times a year throughout
the country, but rarely make it into the media. Indeed, when one considers
the sheer quantities of animals slaughtered for food in the US, such
incidents seem inevitable:
Number of cows and calves slaughtered every 24 hours in the US: 90,000
Number of chickens slaughtered every minute in the US: 14,000
Food animals (not counting fish and other aquatic creatures) slaughtered per
year in the US: 10 billion- more than one and a half times the world’s
entire human population.
All of these facts, when combined with the incredible suffering and pain
caused to animals in the daily holocausts of factory farm environments, as
well as the detriments to our own health when eating animals treated in this
way, really do show factory farming to be an entirely unacceptable form of
exploitation and profiteering, to which we must all say “No!”
By Toby Köberle
Melbourne, July 2005.
Endnotes
[i] Transcript of New York Times full page ad published June 22, 2001 detailing
the horrors of our modern-day slaughterhouses.
[ii] The Environment (. . . and factory farms), Patty Cantrell, Rhonda
Perry & Paul Sturtz
[iii] ibid
[iv] ibid
[v] All statistics (italics) compiled from The Food Revolution by John
Robbins (2001), Diet for a New America by John Robbins (1987), Frances Moore
Lappe's Diet for a Small Planet and the Rainforest Action Network.
[vi] The Environment (. . . and factory farms), Patty Cantrell, Rhonda
Perry & Paul Sturtz
[vii] ibid
[viii] ibid
[ix] ibid
[x] Sources as v
[xi] ibid
[xii] UN's Statement on World Water Day, March 22, 1999
[xiii] As ii
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